Maroons party like it’s 1999

The Chatham Maroons celebrate their Sutherland Cup victory with a parade and rally at Chatham Memorial Arena on June 8

The Chatham Maroons celebrated their Sutherland Cup victory with the community on Sunday.

The Maroons held a parade and ceremony in the parking lot of Chatham Memorial Arena to show off their trophy and banner that they won. The Maroons won the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League title, defeating the St. Catharines Falcons 6-3 on May 11, to win the best-of-seven final four games to two.

Maroons’ coach and general manager Richard Santos knew early on that he had potentially a special team.

“We knew from day one we had a special group coming in,” Santos said.

The Maroons started the season 4-5.

“These boys didn’t give up, they came in ready to work every day. We knew special things were going to happen to this group.”

To get to the Sutherland Cup the Maroons defeated Elmira (4-1), Stratford (4-3) and St. Marys (4-3). This was Chatham’s second Sutherland Cup winning team, as the Maroons also won the championship in 1999.